Murder on St. Malley's Day is the fifth episode of the fifth series of Midsomer Murders. It was first shown on 22nd September 2002.
The Devington school has a long history of educating the privileged members of society and many have gone on to illustrious careers, such as in the Diplomatic Service. The Talbot family in particular has a long association with the school with three generations having attended. When Daniel Talbot is killed during the St. Malley's Day race, the same day as his elderly grandfather died of natural causes, Barnaby and Troy investigate. They find ongoing feuds between the school and villagers, a conspiracy theorist who thinks the school is the centre of criminal activity, students who are having drinking parties at the local pub, and the ongoing affairs of the school's secretive Pudding Club. The discovery of a long-held school secret leads to the discovery of the murderer.
Tropes:
- Brotherhood of Funny Hats: The Pudding Club is an exclusive club restricted to Devington students who are pursuing careers in diplomacy. On the surface, it's just a "boy's club" that regularly eats "puddings". note In reality, it's a front for an illegal art-smuggling ring, with the members using their positions to smuggle valuables out of foreign countries and into the school proper, to be sold off to finance the school whenever it needs the money.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Dudley Carew, who believes that there's a secret and sinister purpose behind the Pudding Club at the Devington School, claiming they're an Illuminati-esque group responsible for murder and mayhem on a global scale.
- Deadly Euphemism:Barnaby: Where is Mr Ludlow?
Jonathan: Doing his duty to the school. Cleaning up. - Improbable Weapon User: The murderer uses a giant decorative spoon to crack open Dudley's skull.
- Properly Paranoid / Right for the Wrong Reasons: Dudley is right in that there really is a secret and sinister purpose to the Pudding Club...just not the one he thinks; it's art-smuggling under a guise of diplomatic immunity.
- Students' Secret Society: The truth about the Pudding Club is still criminal, but (comparatively) a lot less sinister: the Club is a secret money pool that was formed by students long ago to purchase sweets that they couldn't get in the school's mess hall and, once those students graduated and became ambassadors, kept it funded for future generations by smuggling artworks from their ambassadorial posts for the students to sell. All of the murder victims throughout the episode were getting in the way of the school headmaster lining his pockets with the Pudding Club's money.
